Checked 15 October 2026 · UK landlord guide
Can I Airbnb
my house or flat?
Owning the property is only part of the answer. The address, the way you let it and the documents attached to it can each change what is allowed.
There is no single Airbnb permission for the UK. A listing going live does not mean the council, your freeholder, your lender or your insurer has agreed to the use.
Find the questions for your propertyStart with your property
Which questions
do you need to ask?
This points you to the relevant checks. It cannot grant permission or confirm that a particular address is lawful.
Your local starting point
Choose a location to see the relevant planning, licensing or registration question. The country sections below explain the position even if you do not use this tool.
Read any title restrictions and confirm the proposed use with your lender and insurer. Freehold ownership is not an exemption from planning or safety duties.
Describe the actual stays, guest numbers and operating arrangements when asking for an answer.
Read the country guidanceThe short answer is “possibly”, not “it’s my house”.
A freehold house used occasionally while you are away is a different proposal from a leasehold flat operated all year for revolving groups. A spare room with the owner present is different again. Calling all three “an Airbnb” conceals the facts a planning officer, lender or insurer needs.
Write down the actual proposal before you spend money on furnishing or accept a booking. Include whether you will live there, the rooms being let, the maximum guests, typical stay length, likely nights per year and arrangements for access, parking, waste and complaints. Keep that description consistent in every permission request.
If the operating plan changes later, revisit the answer. Consent for a resident host taking an occasional guest may not cover a whole property business after the host moves out.
Start with the documents that can stop the idea.
A lease can be more restrictive than local planning rules. Read the actual wording on permitted use, private residence, business activity, subletting, minimum terms and nuisance. “Subletting allowed” is not necessarily permission for holiday stays. A freeholder owning another flat that hosts guests is not evidence that your lease permits it.
The Leasehold Advisory Service explains how different lease clauses affect short stays. If the wording is unclear, have a solicitor interpret the complete lease and any variations. A resident management company or managing agent may be a useful contact, but establish who can actually grant the consent required by the lease.
For a freehold property, check the title and restrictive covenants too. For a mortgaged property, describe holiday or serviced accommodation accurately to the lender. Ordinary consent to a residential tenancy may cover a different use. Ask the insurer about paying guests, public liability, unoccupied periods and the proposed guest turnover. Keep the actual policy terms and endorsements, not just a reassuring phone note.
If you are a tenant, an advert on Airbnb does not create a right to sublet. Check the tenancy and get the permission it requires. Government guidance on letting rooms explains why tenancy restrictions matter. Shared ownership can carry its own restrictions; the official shared ownership guidance describes the permission normally needed before subletting. Do not build a rent to rent business on a verbal assumption.
The address changes
the answer.
Rules checked on 15 October 2026. Use the planning authority for the property itself, including a national park authority where relevant.
Outside Greater London
There is no general rule that every holiday let needs a new planning permission, or that none does. The existing lawful use, conditions and the scale and effects of the proposed activity matter. Ask the local planning authority about the specific property, rather than relying on other listings nearby.
England’s national short let registration scheme is not yet in force. Current government guidance expects it in March 2027. That future register is not a reason to ignore planning or safety now. Read the current England guidance.
For a Bristol address, continue with our Bristol planning and licensing guide.
The 90 nights have conditions.
The planning exception requires no more than 90 nights in a calendar year and at least one person providing the accommodation to be liable for Council Tax at the property. If either condition is not met, seek planning permission for the short letting use. Ask the borough whether a direction removes that exception for your property.
Count the actual nights across all booking channels. It is not a fresh allowance on each platform, for each guest or every rolling twelve months. Staying inside the limit does not override a lease restriction. Read the Mayor of London’s guidance and our detailed London 90 day guide.
Hosting a room while continuing to live there is a different planning fact pattern. Ask the borough about your exact arrangement rather than applying an entire home rule by analogy.
A licence and planning are different questions.
In scope short lets need the relevant council licence, including room hosting. A new operator must have the licence before accepting bookings or receiving guests. The current guidance allows advertising beforehand, which is not permission to take a reservation. Read the Scottish licensing guidance.
Home sharing means hosting in your principal home while present; home letting means letting that home while absent. Secondary letting is accommodation where you do not normally live. Choose the category that matches reality.
In a short let control area, a new change from an independent dwelling to secondary letting is treated as a material change requiring planning permission. Other uses and an operation predating designation need their own assessment. Outside a control area, planning permission can still be required. Read the planning guidance. Do not treat the rest of Scotland as unrestricted.
Whole property short lets also have current EPC duties. The proposed new certificate timetable remains subject to Parliament. Read the Scottish EPC update.
In Edinburgh, a short let licence does not deal with the visitor levy. Read our October 2026 levy update for the first return and payment dates.
Check the use, the map and the register.
Welsh planning distinguishes a main home, a second home and commercial short holiday accommodation through use classes C3, C5 and C6. Permitted changes between them can be removed locally by an Article 4 direction. The exact use, planning history and authority boundary matter. Read the Welsh planning changes.
Do not use an old Gwynedd headline as your answer. Gwynedd’s own direction is no longer in force after it was quashed. Eryri has a separate direction, applying since 1 June 2025. A postal address in Gwynedd does not settle which planning authority covers the home.
Free Welsh visitor accommodation registration opened on 1 October 2026. Existing providers and those starting during the transition have until 31 March 2027. After that transition, new providers must register when they start providing or offering the accommodation. This can include spare rooms. Registration is not planning consent. Check the official registration service and our registration guide.
Certification comes before offering the accommodation.
Tourist accommodation needs Tourism NI certification before being offered or operated. This is a legal requirement, not the same thing as choosing to obtain a star rating. Rooms in a host’s home are not automatically excluded. Check Tourism NI’s accommodation guidance.
Planning is separate. A council can consider the proposed use and its effects even where certification is in place. For an example of the questions a planning authority considers, see Belfast’s short holiday let guidance. Obtain the answer for your own address rather than treating another council’s guidance as a decision.
Three answers that do not establish permission.
“The platform accepted my listing” only tells you that you were able to create an advert. It is not a decision from a planning authority, a licence from a council or consent from your freeholder.
“It’s less than 90 nights” is not a UK wide exemption. The London rule has its own conditions, and a London owner can still be in breach of a lease while complying with that planning exception.
“I’ll make the minimum stay longer” is not a reliable way around the rules. The actual purpose and occupation matter. Calling an arrangement a holiday booking does not necessarily stop it creating residential occupation rights. Get advice before using long stays as a workaround, especially where someone will be making the property their home.
Ask a question that can be answered.
“Can I Airbnb?” is too vague. Send the address and a real operating description. Include existing planning references and relevant contract clauses. Ask what evidence or formal application is needed to establish the position, not just whether someone thinks it sounds fine.
An informal officer email may help you understand the next step, but it is not necessarily a formal determination of lawful use. If you need certainty for a purchase or an enforcement concern, ask about the appropriate planning application, certificate or professional advice. Keep the full response and its assumptions with the property records.
Useful wording
for the actual enquiry.
Replace every bracketed field. Use the first message for planning and adapt the second to the specific contract or policy. These are enquiries, not evidence that consent has been granted.
Ask the planning authority about a specific use
I am checking the proposed use of [full address and postcode]. The property is currently used as [current use and any permission reference]. I propose [whole property or rooms], with [host present or absent], up to [number] guests and approximately [number] nights per year. Typical stays would be [length]. Access, parking, waste and guest contact would be handled by [factual arrangements]. Please advise whether this proposal needs planning permission, whether an Article 4 direction or an existing condition affects it, and which application or lawful use certificate route would establish the position. I can supply a plan and the relevant existing decisions. Please let me know if a formal paid advice application is required.
Ask the freeholder, lender or insurer
I am considering short stays at [property address]. The proposed arrangement is [whole property or room], with [host present or absent], [maximum guests], typical stays of [length] and approximately [number] nights per year. The property would be managed by [name and contact]. Please confirm whether this specific use is permitted under [lease clause, mortgage account or insurance policy reference]. If consent or a different product is needed, please explain the terms and the document that would confirm it. I will provide any further details you need before taking bookings.
Permission is not the final preparation.
Once the proposed use is acceptable, the home still needs to be safe and manageable. Check the fire duties for that type of paying guest accommodation, gas and electrical safety, insurance and any licence conditions. Do not assume domestic smoke alarms alone establish compliance. The government’s small paying guest accommodation fire guide is an England starting point; use the relevant national fire guidance for properties elsewhere.
If you let a flat in England, our cladding remediation Bill update explains the current building records to ask for and how the proposed reforms differ from today’s duties.
Think about the building as well as the booking. Shared entrances, bins, visitor parking and late arrivals are often where a workable plan succeeds or fails. Our guide to Airbnb neighbour complaints explains how to deal with genuine problems, permission objections and someone approaching your guests.
Keep a short permission record: the proposed operation, each relevant decision or consent, the exact property and conditions it covers, and anything still unresolved. A collection of application receipts is not the same as permission. If an essential answer is missing, resolve it before taking bookings that depend on it.
This is general UK guidance checked on 15 October 2026, not a legal opinion on a particular address. Follow the linked official guidance and get property specific advice where the answer is uncertain. Rules and council directions can change.